Duplicates Meds at hospitals

Started by Nano1971
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Nano1971

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Hi..wanted some advice about Medications dublicates in a Hospital setting..what is your best practice limiting them except for Flitering medications class using filters (Epic)?
 
Hi..wanted some advice about Medications dublicates in a Hospital setting..what is your best practice limiting them except for Flitering medications class using filters (Epic)?

I don't get what you mean. Your computer system should be giving you duplication of therapy alerts when you are processing an order, right?
 
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Nothing beats good old fashioned human judgement. Consider reviewing the med profile? Epic should allow for a summary panel showing currently ordered meds to sit on the side of your verification screen. Check with your Epic team if you don't have that.
 
Yeah, every home med has to be reviewed and reordered by the doctor. If duplicate meds are being ordered, I would ask the nurse to verify with the patient if he's actually taking both meds, or if 1 med had been discontinued, but was still showing as active on his doctor's chart. This is usually the case, a patient has switched meds at some point, but the switch wasn't properly put into the patient's record, or the pt had seen a non-hospital affiliated doctor, so the switch didn't carry through to the hospital chart. Often, the patient can clarify this. If not, then contact the doctor about the situation.
 
I guess I'm assuming the duplicate med is coming from the patient's home med. If it's the doctor/doctors who are ordering duplicate meds, then either follow your pharmacy's auto-sub policy or contact the physician.